Trouble's Children: One's Chaos, Two's Anarchy
by LunaEvanna Longbottom
Summary: Tara Knowles has made a lot of mistakes in her life, but has never regretted giving up her kids for adoption when she found herself pregnant at eighteen. She gave her children something Tara herself would never have; a normal life, or at least that's what she thought before she opened the door for a fifteen year old claiming to be her daughter.
1. Gracie

_**This is my disclaimer for the entire story.  
I do not own Sons Of Anarchy because if I did Jax wouldn't have killed himself in the series finale. I mean, seriously! What the hell was up with that?!**_

* * *

Tara sighed as she finished taping up yet another box.

She hadn't stepped foot in her childhood home since she left for medical school over twelve years ago and hadn't looked back. She thought she'd be fine living there, but when she saw the old photos of her family and her mothers knick-knacks all over the living room she couldn't keep her emotions at bay.

She could live in this house while her family pictures hang on the wall, the ones of her, her mother and her father all happy and smiling when no one had smiled in the Knowles home since her mother passed away and seeing the random trinkets and decorations her mother had filled the living room with just made it even harder.

So only a week after moving back to Charming, Tara had unpacked all her things into her home and had packed up everything that had already been there.  
She was now successfully finished with the living room. Her mothers decorations were now gone and so were all the family photos except the one of her parents on their wedding day. She found herself keeping that picture seeing that she preferred to remember them at their peaks of happiness. What better memory than them becoming man and wife?

Tara stood up from the couch before picking up the box and taking it out to the garage and putting it with the other boxes that sat to side so they weren't blocking the way to her fathers car which she had found under twelve years worth of newspapers and magazines.

Once she went back inside she made herself a cup of coffee before sitting down on the living room couch and turned on the TV even though she wasn't actually paying attention to it. Her mind began to drift and think about some of the better memories she had here in her hometown of Charming after her mother had died, most of them involved a certain blonde, blue eyed biker.

It had been nice, her seeing Jax again so many years after leaving. She knew that he was happy for the most part. He was VP of the club, going to be president as soon as Clay stepped down and he had a new beautiful baby boy.

Tara began to think about all the times she's seen Jax and his family around little baby Abel and couldn't help but smile. Abel was lucky, having so many people who were going to be there to watch out for him and love him, sometimes watching Jax with him made her envious of what she missed out on and could've had. Made her think that maybe her life wouldn't have been as lonely if maybe she had just told him...

No, she shook her head before putting her cup on the coffee table. She did what she did for a reason. Jax wouldn't have been able to handle the responsibility and she did what she did because she knew that while Abel would grow up with more love and protection then he knew what to do with, he would also grow up and become just like Jax. He would join that God forsaken club and most likely die young if he wasn't careful. That wasn't how anyone should be raised.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a sharp rapping on the front door. She flipped open her phone to see that it was 11:48 at night. Who could possibly be knocking on her door right now?

"Hold on!" She called as the knocks sounded yet again. She got off the couch and headed straight for the door before opening it and was surprised at what she saw.

"Can I help you?" She said opening the door more when she she saw that it was only a kid.

She was about the same height as Tara with dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a dark blue plaid skirt over a pair of black sheer stockings that were ripped at the knees with a pair of tattered black boots, a zipped up black hoodie that was probably four sizes too big for her and a large messenger bag that was slung across her body. She couldn't have been more than fifteen.

"Are you Tara Knowles?" She asked uncertain as Tara looked around wondering if she was with anyone.

"Yes." Tara answered and she girl let out a sound of relief. "Who are you?"

"My name's Gracie." She said before taking a breath. "I'm your daughter."


	2. Jack

_**This chapter is dedicated to katannc for being my first reviewer.**_

_**To katannc: Jax isn't married, he just got divorced from Wendy and I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear in the first chapter. This story is following the show for the most part, but I am going to be changing a lot of things.**_

* * *

"I-I'm sorry what?" Tara asked not completely comprehending what the teen had just said. "You're my who?"

"Your daughter." Gracie reiterated.

"I don't have a daughter." Tara said and began to close the door.

"Wait!" Gracie called and Tara stopped momentarily as the young teen began to search through her over-sized bag before she finally found what she was looking for and pulled it out.

"Your name is Tara Grace Knowles and you moved to San Diego after you graduated high school and that's when you gave me and brother up for adoption." She said quickly as if someone would stop her at any moment.

Tara stared at her for a moment before opening the door back up. "Come in." She said and Gracie didn't think twice before going into the small house. "How did you find me?" She asked and Gracie held up the paper.

"My birth certificate had your name on it." She said. "You'd be surprised at what you can do with a name."

"Do you know how many Tara Knowles there are in San Diego?"

"Three hundred and twenty-nine." Gracie answered letting out a breath. "But only seventy-three of them had middle name Grace and only one had spent three days in the maternity ward at San Diego General." Seeing the look on Tara's face she continued on. "I'm good with computers."

"That doesn't explain why you're here." Tara said walking past Gracie to where she had sat the remote on the coffee table and turned off the TV. "And where's your brother?"

"Jack..." Gracie began, twisting the ring on her middle finger. "He...didn't want to come. He stayed back in San Diego with our foster family."

"Foster family?" Tara asked crossing her arms. "W-Why are you with a foster family?"

Grace grimaced and unzipped her hoodie bit before pulling her tank top down so Tara could see the prominent scar that marred her chest. "Genetic birth defect. Jack came out of his perfectly healthy, but I wasn't so lucky. I had a twelve percent chance of surviving and I did, but..."

"But...?" Tara proded.

Gracie shrugged. "No one wants a sick baby." She said simply and Tara felt her gut tighten.

"The social worker said that it wouldn't affect you getting adopted." Tara informed her. "That as soon as the surgery was done and you were done recovering the defect wouldn't compromise future health."

"That's true." Gracie said nodding her head. "But once potential parents hear that the baby had to be rushed to the operating room after being born, they kinda think the worst."

"I'm sorry." Tara said. "I honestly didn't know."

"I know." Gracie said. "You came back to check on Jack and me everyday until the doctors were positive I'd survive."

"How'd you know that?" Tara asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Like I said," Gracie began with a sheepish smile shoving her hands in her pockets. "I'm good with computers."

**(****O****)(****O****)(****O****)**

"Hello?" The black haired boy said trying to get the attention of the woman at the front desk of the police station. "Hello?"

"Just one minute." She said before picking up the ringing phone. "Charming Police Station."

The boy sighed before running his hand through his hair.

One thousand, seven hundred and forty-nine miles. That's how far he had chased his sister when he had woken up three days ago and found that she had snuck out in the middle of the night after promising she wouldn't. He had known exactly where she'd be headed since she left her laptop on her bed which he knew she had done intentionally knowing he would follow her.

"Hey, hello." He said waving his hand once the woman got off the phone and got up from her seat.

"Just one minute kid." She said holding up a finger.

"I don't have a minute!" He said following her to to the other side of the circular desk. "I've been standing here for ten minutes!"

"Look kid." The woman said. "I'm busy and if you're gonna yell you can leave."

"Well I wouldn't be yelling if you had taken two minutes to help me ten minutes ago." He reminded her.

"I've had just about enough-" But the woman stopped talking when an older balding man wearing a sheriffs uniform came up to the desk.

"Lisa," He said. "I got this, why don't you go on with what you were doing." The woman, Lisa, gave the boy a haughty look before walking up which he returned mocking once she walked away. "The name's Wayne Unser. What can I help you with son?"

"I'm looking for my sister and I need directions." He said and Unser nodded.

"Where to?" The boy went into the pocket of his hoodie before pulling out a scrap of paper and unfolding it.

"Teller-Morrow Automotive Services." He read and Unser furrowed his eyebrows.

"And you said you're looking for your sister?" He asked and the boy nodded. "What's your name son?"

"Jackson Teller." The body answered. "But everyone calls me Jack."

Unser didn't know what to say or do. "Nice to meet you." He said. "Your sister, her name Teller too?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "Not like Teller-Morrow, but she thinks so, so I really need to find her."

"Yeah, right." Unser said shaking his head remembering he had asked for directions. He looked around for a minute before spotting who he was looking for. "Candy," He called and the woman turned to him before going over. "This is Jack, can you give him directions to Teller-Morrow? I need to make a call." He said before glancing again at the familiar blue eyes before going back to his office.

The woman, Officer Candice Eglee, gave Jack directions before sending him on his way.

It was dark when Jack found Teller-Morrow. On the plus side he had ran so it didn't take him that long to fine the place, but the down side was that he didn't know exactly how he was going to go about finding his sister.

_'Hey, my sisters somewhere in your body shop and and thinks our dad is someone that owns this place._' Yeah, that'd have to do.

He walked right in the gate and there were only a few people around the auto shop that time of night and pointed him towards a separate building when he asked for the owner.

He couldn't tell whether he was more shocked or disgusted when he got inside the building.

There were men and scantily clad women everywhere, on the pool table, sitting at the bar and on the couch. The room smelled like something had died and someone had tried to use air freshener to mask it which only added to the stench. Add that to the smell of sweat and STD's that were swarming through the air, Jack was surprised that he wasn't gagging.

"Aren't you a little young to be here laddy?" A thickly accented voice asked and Jack turned just as a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"I'm looking for Teller." He said.

"What?" The man asked not hearing him over the music.

"Teller!" He said louder.

"Gemma or Jax?" The man asked. 'What kind of name is Jax?' Jack thought.

"Jax." He answered and the man clapped him on the shoulder again.

"Stay here." He ordered before disappearing, leaving Jack standing awkwardly at the door. He wasn't even standing there for a minute before a woman with bleach blonde hair, more than ten years older wearing a short red leather dress came up to him with a beer.

"What's a cutie like you doing standing here all alone?" She asked drunkly and tripped on her last step falling into Jack.

"Whoa!" He said when he caught a whiff of her breath. "You smell like someone threw up in your mouth."

Either the woman didn't hear his comment or she didn't care because she just grinned and threw her arms around his neck.

"How about we go back to your place and I'll give you a peek inside my dress." She said breathing into Jack's face the entire time he was trying to get her off of him.

"Yeah, I'd rather-" But he stopped and made a sound of discomfort when one of the hands he had pulled from around his neck grabbed his crotch.

"You like that?" She asked with a smile, standing on her tip-toes so she was his height and nibbled on his ear.

"No, not particularly." He admitted once again pulling her off of him only to be vry surprised and disgusted when she pounced and shoved her tongue down into his mouth. "I'm fifteen." He said quickly once she pulled away.

"I won't tell if you won't." She assured him with a smile.

"Yeah, no offence, but you taste like you lick ashtrays for a living." That apparently got the message through to her.

"What you think you're better than me?" She slurred stepping back.

"No, but I do think that you carry several STD's currently unknown to man." Jack said trying to rub the taste of her mouth off with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"I'll have you know that I could've been the old lady of the VP." She said thrusting her beer at Jack causing come to slosh out and spill onto his shirt. "I just wasn't ready to just sit on the back of a motorcycle all day and pop out sick babies."

"Good for you." He said wiping at his shirt wishing the guy with the thick accent would just come back.

"That's him?" Jax asked looking across the room at the boy who was talking to one of the more drunk sweetbutts, Kacey. Chibs had gotten him out of his room to tell him about a kid who a looking for him.

"Aye." The Scot confirmed. "You might want to go put the poor lad out of his misery. The gash is really laying it on thick."

Suddenly Kacey stilled and the boy looked at her worriedly before she threw up on him.

"Oh, that's nasty." Jax laughed as the boy looked like he was about to be sick himself. He went over just as Kacey left the boy alone.

"I hear you're looking for me." He said and suddenly Jack wasn't that worried about his shirt.

"You're Jax?" He asked and Jax nodded.

"What can I do for you?" Jax asked and Jack let out a breath.

"I'm looking for my sister." He told the older man. "I think she might be here."

Jax crossed his arms. "What's she look like?"

"Well...like me I guess." Jack answered. "Brown hair, green eyes." Jax shook his head.

"Hold old is she?" He asked.

"Fifteen."

"Well she ain't here." Jax told him. "Kid's ain't allowed after hours." Jack nodded hoping he got something wrong about where he was supposed to go.

"Well, thanks." He said. "I'll take me and that girls puke somewhere else." Jax patted him on the shoulder before the teen left and Jax went back to Chibs who was waiting for him.

"Kid was just looking for his sister." Jax told him.

Unser couldn't believe that no one was picking up the phone at TM or their own personal phones. He could've went down there himself, but he didn't need the kid asking why he was there.

It was the twentieth time he had called when someone finally picked up.

"Sorry," The voice of his long time friend spoke. "TM's closed. Call back tomorrow."

"Wait Gem!" He said.

"Wayne?" She asked. "Why're you calling TM?"

"Because nobody's answering their damn phones!" He told her. "There's a kid there looking for his sister."

"Yeah, so?" Gemma asked.

"Kid said his name's Jackson Teller." Unser told her.

"What?" She asked an Unser let out a breath.

"Yeah," He agreed. "He doesn't think there's any relation between you and him, but his sister does."

"And they're here?" Gemma asked and Unser nodded even though she couldn't see him.

"Should be, yeah." He confirmed. "He came to the station asking for directions."

"Thanks Wayne." She said. "Gotta go." She didn't wait for him to say anything else before hanging up and rushing out of the office and to the club to find her husband or son.

"Jax!" She called spotting the latter of the two standing near the bar with Chibs and Tig. "Jax!"

"Hey ma." He said seeing her. "What's the matter?"

"Did a kid come in here?" She asked quickly and he nodded.

"Yeah," He answered. "He was looking for his sister. I told him she wasn't here. Why?"

"Is he still here?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Sent him on his way a few minutes ago. Why?" He still didn't get an answer because Gemma rushed out the front door, but didn't see anyone around the lot.

"Dammit!" She cursed pulling a hand through her hair. She didn't know who that kid was or why he and his sister were here, but she did know that they wouldn't find another Jackson Teller in Charming.

**(****O****)(****O****)(****O****)**

"Who gave you that name?" Tara asked looking at the teen who was sitting down on the couch drinking a glass of juice.

After inviting Gracie inside, Tara hadn't known exactly what to do. Was she supposed to call Child Services, the police or ask for the number of Gracie's foster family. She wondered how they didn't realize that that foster child was almost two thousand miles away in California.

"Hm?" Gracie asked putting down her glass.

"Who named you Gracie?" Tara asked.

"A nurse at the hospital." The teen answered. "She found your name on my birth certificate and she thought that Grace fit me well."

"And your brother?" Tara asked.

"Jackson," Gracie told her. "After our father...or after the name you put on the birth certificate under father."

"Oh." Tara said feeling very stupid. Of course they named her son after his father. It only made sense considering she didn't name either of them. She figured their adoptive parents would want to do that.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Gracie continued. "About him."

"Your father?" Tara asked as her stomach began to turn and Gracie nodded.

"I wanted to kn-" But Gracie was cut off by knocking at the door. "Are you expecting someone?"

"No." Tara said standing up and going to the door. She unlocked the chain lock before opening the door open a crack to see a black haired kid a bit taller than her who smelled very bad.

"Can I help you?" She asked trying not to gag from the smell of vomit.

"Are you Tara Knowles?" He asked and Gracie got up once she heard the familiar voice.

"Jack?" She asked standing behind Tara who turned to her.

"You know him?" She asked.

"She should." The boy said and Tara turned back to him. "I'm her brother."


	3. Secrets

"Okay, I just got off the phone with your foster parents," Tara told the two teens as she re-entered the living room. "And they refused to come and pick you up."

The first thing that Tara learned about Gracie and Jack was that they were both ridiculously stubborn and hotheaded.

When Jack had pushed past Tara and ordered Gracie to leave with him, she had refused and that's when the argument began. Their retorts were so quick and their yelling was so loud that Tara had only gotten the gist of what they were yelling at each other; Gracie thought Jack was too controlling and Jack thought Gracie was too impulsive. Tara was fine with letting them yell out their frustrations until Gracie picked up her forgotten glass of juice and threw it at her brothers head. Thankfully, it had missed, but Tara had yelled at them both to sit down. Neither were happy about the order, but listened to her.

"Fine." Jack snorted. "We don't need them. We know how to make it by ourselves."

"Well, that's not an option you have." Tara pointed out. "I called CPS in San Diego and the soonest they can get someone from CPS in Los Angeles here in Charming is next Friday."

"But it's Tuesday." Gracie reminded.

"Yeah, it is." Tara confirmed. "Which is why you two will be staying here until someone can come and get you." Jack let out a sigh before turning to his sister with an angry look on his face.

"This is your fault."

Gracie scoffed. "My fault?" She demanded and he nodded. "This could all have been avoided if you had just believed me-"

"Oh, I did believe you." Jack assured her. "I also knew that you were bat-shit crazy for wanting to steal Marsha and Ted's car and drive to this tiny as fuck town!"

Gracie stood before throwing a lamp at her brother and Tara knew it was time to send them to bed.

"You're fucking crazy!" Jack commented and Tara sighed, knowing that Gracie would retaliate.

She was right, on their way to one of Tara's guest bedrooms, Gracie pushed Jack into the open doorway of the bathroom and Tara heard a thump and Jack's cursing before Gracie slammed the door of the bedroom shut.

Tara went into the bathroom to see what the damage was, only to find Jack sitting on the floor with blood trickling down from his hairline. The small amount of red on the white sink told Tara exactly what happened.

"Why do you antagonize her?" She asked sitting down on the coffee table in front of Jack. After helping him up from the bathroom floor, Tara had sent Jack to the living room before grabbing her first aid kit and a wet rag.

Jack scoffed. "Because sometimes she can be stupid and someone has to tell her." Tara wiped away some of the blood and Jack winced a bit when she touched the cut on his head.

"Sorry," She apologized.

"S'okay." He assured her and she went back to cleaning him up. "So," He began. "Does Gracie get her temper from you or our dad?" He noticed that Tara briefly halted before continuing. She was quiet for a moment and Jack was sure that he wouldn't get an answer.

"Your dad." She replied after a moment. "He was young...and impulsive- he still is. I think that's why we went so well together; I was always able to calm him down and get him to actually think things through."

Jack snorted. "I wish. Gracie...when she gets angry, there's not much that can stop her."

"You can, I bet."

"Only some of the time."Jack sighed. "She's not exactly an easy person to live with; she's hotheaded, stubborn...I just wish sometimes she had been born a guy so that I could hit her without feeling like an asshole." Tara dug into the kit and grabbed a butterfly bandage before putting it on Jack's forehead.

"Do you...do you know why she came here?" Tara asked. "To Charming, I mean. Did she just want some answers or...?" Now it was Jack's turn to get quiet. He simply stared at Tara for a few moments; his eyes flicking over her face, scanning sign of...well, of anything really.

Eventually, the teen did answer. "No," He said, but Tara could tell he was lying. He held his breath for a moment before answering just like Jax had done anytime he lied to her. _'Like father, like son._' She thought.

* * *

"Dr. Knowles...Dr. Knowles...Tara!"

Jumping at the loud ca;ling of her name, Tara turned around to see one of the nurses, Regina, standing behind her with a concerned look on her face. She was one of the older nurses- most likely in her mid-fifties with completely gray short hair and multiple wrinkles on her face. She had been working at the hospital since Tara was a kid.

"Yes, Nurse Rowland?"

"Are you okay, hun?" She asked.

Tara tried to be nonchalant. "I-I'm fine, Nurse Rowland. Why do you ask?'

"Because you've been standing in the middle of the hallway for the past twenty minutes and Dr. Namid has been paging you for ten minutes." Looking down at her watch, Tara cursed. She had an appointment with him and two parents about their three month old.

"Shit," She sighed before she started down the hall.

Tara had barely gotten any sleep the night before; she had been tossing and turning all night as she thought about what would happen to Gracie and Jack once the social worker arrived from Los Angeles.

Tara had only been eighteen when she gave birth to her children and giving them up for adoption was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do in her life, but it needed to be done. She was still a kid herself and there was no way she could raise two children by herself. Her aunt had made it clear that Tara was welcome in her home while she went to college, but she refused to raise two kids while Tara was at school. At one point, she even considered returning home to Charming, but it wouldn't take someone long to realize who the father of her children were and the last thing she wanted for either of them was the life that Jax had. If Gemma had even found out about them, Tara knew that she probably would get custody of them; Tara was an eighteen year old girl with no job and a high school education while Gemma had money, a clean rap sheet and plenty of people to vouch for her. She would've taken Gracie and Jack both without another thought.

No, giving the twins up for adoption had been the right thing to do, but it had been hard and Tara had only been able to do it the first time because she thought that they were going to a loving home with parents who could give them what she couldn't. That wasn't the case here; Gracie and Jack were being sent to a foster home.

Tara had spent the night thinking about which was worse; keeping them in Charming with her and letting Jax's life corrupt them like it did him or letting them go to another foster home where Tara wouldn't know what was happening to them.

"You've got nine days to think about this, Tara." She told herself as she stood outside of Dr. Namid's office. "But you're at work now. Gracie and Jack'll have to wait."

* * *

The TV was on, but Jack was barely paying attention to it. He was too caught up inside his own head to be bothered with what he was watching.

How had he and Gracie gotten here? Everything had been fine, more or less, with their foster family; Marsha and Ted barely bothered them other than the occasion comment on how they were freeloaders, but Jack and Gracie were free to do as they pleased, when they pleased. Their sixteenth birthday was only a couple months away and then they could legally emancipate themselves. They'd no longer be wards of the state, or orphans, or whatever unsavory label anyone chose to stick on them. They'd just get jobs and Gracie would get to go to college like she always wanted and they'd lead a nice life. It was all they had talked about since they were ten. But then Gracie had gone and screwed it all up with her impulsiveness./p  
If he was being completely honest, Jack didn't even blame Gracie. Not really. He blamed himself; he had spent fifteen years sharing the same room- sometimes even the same bed as Gracie. He knew he ticks, her tells, her habits- he knew when she was angry or sad or in a much to cheery mood...he knew everything about his sister and he knew that she would go looking for their birth parents. Jack could have stopped her, but he didn't.

He didn't stop her because, in some small way, Jack wanted to know where he came from; he wanted to know whether or not he look like his mother or father; he wanted to know if they had the same taste in music; he wanted to know if he was anything like the people who had made him. Gracie had wanted to know all those things too, but the only difference between Jack and his sister was that Jack was a realist and Gracie was not. She was oblivious to the dangers and screwed up ways of the real world and she chose to believe that everything was okay all the time. Jack had never had that luxury. He had spent his entire life watching out for her and because of that, he never really got the chance to watch out for himself.

A loud coughing sound was what brought Jack out of his own head and, without hesitation, he got up from the couch and rushed to the bathroom where he knew Gracie would be. As he had suspected, she stood hunched over as she tried to muffle her coughs into her hand, but they only got worse.

"Grace!" Rushing over, Jack took his sister by the arms and helped her sit down on the toilet as she continued to cough. "Breath, Gracie Bean. Just breathe. Jack rubbed her on the back until she stopped her coughing fit considering there wasn't much else he could do. He knew from past experiences that he just had to let them end on her own.

Gracie stopped coughing, but she didn't lower her hand from her mouth. She was waiting on Jack to leave, but he gave her a look that clearly said he would do no such thing. Grabbing the box of tissues off the sink, Jack got down on his knees before pulling Gracie's hand away from her mouth. He was sad to admit that the blood on her hand and around her mouth no longer phased him.

Neither of the two said anything as Jack wiped the blood off of her hand, but only because there was nothing to be said. This was a normal event for them. it was nothing to be alarmed about...not anymore.

It wasn't until Gracie had flushed the tissues down the toilet that Jack spoke. "Are you going to tell her?"

"No." The answered was immediate and Jack sighed.

"She's a doctor." He argued. "She could help." Gracie scoffed.

"You didn't even want to meet her before today." She reminded him. "Now you want to ask for her help? No." Gracie shook her head. "We both know why I'm here and it isn't for help."

"You're sick, Grace." Jack pointed out and Gracie rolled her eyes.

"Thank's for telling me." She thanked sarcastically. "As if the coughing up blood and bone swelling wasn't a big enough clue."

Jack sighed. She was only being difficult because she knew he was right. She always got this way when she knew he was right. "Grac-"

"Just don't, Jack!" Gracie snapped. "Just...just don't." Pushing her way through the door, Gracie went into the guest bedroom across the hall, leaving Jack alone in the bathroom, having no idea what to say or do.


End file.
